What Happened to Bella Black?
by Mai Ascot
Summary: He had automatically stepped backwards. The smallest of steps, really. Bellatrix looks back on her and Sirius's relationship. Bella Black missed him more than anything. Bellatrix Lestrange wasn't so sure. Yet another oneshot. T because I'm paranoid.


**What happened to Bella Black?**

Summary: He had automatically stepped backwards. The smallest of steps, really. Bellatrix looks back on her and Sirius's relationship. Bella Black missed him more than anything. Bellatrix Lestrange wasn't so sure.

A/N I made Bellatrix only two years older than Sirius because I needed them at Hogwarts together. This was a bit of a mad fic made to sate my desperation to do a Bellatrix & Sirius where they don't fall in love (even though I do love those ones) but they are really good friends, after Sirius was killed. Flashbacks and Time Skips included, it's meant to be a bit detached, a bit mad, a little ridiculous and not well written at all. Flames accepted, but ignored like dog's eggs. You have been warned.

**-()-**

_Cissy? 'Dromeda? I need you to listen right now. I- I have something to tell you. Something bad I've done. No, something terrible. I- I can't believe I did it. Don't hate me. No, __**do **__hate me. I deserve it. Hate me more than you hate anyone else. Because... she was proud of this awful, terrible, disgusting thing I did. She said it was good work, well done Bella. And I felt happy, and disgusted with myself. I want to __**die**__. I've tortured and murdered innocents and felt nothing. Not a shred of emotion._

_But this time... I killed someone important._

**-()-**

She'd meant it only to stun.

Only to stun.

Just to get him away from the battle, to turn him to the right side.

To keep her little cousin safe.

She could see it in her mind's eye, that moment, whispering _Stupefy _under her already ragged breath. _Stupefy, stay safe._

_Stay Safe._

His eyes had widened a fraction, he knew that his taunting had done him no good.

Those big silvery grey eyes, the shape of almonds, perfectly situated on his heart shaped face, half hidden by a mop of black, black, black hair. Sirius Black and Bella Black. Black, Black, Black, Ebony Black, Forever Black, as Black as her heart.

He had automatically stepped backwards.

The smallest of steps, really.

A shuffle of the feet, backwards like he was a robot and his controls had gone haywire.

Eyes widen.

Step back.

Fall back.

Gone.

The curtain fluttering uncertainly in the department of mysteries, _it_ dissolved him.

He wasn't _it's_ to take.

_It _hadn't loved him more than anything, anyone, itself.

She heard a scream of rage, loss and unstoppable sadness filling the suddenly empty room. In reality it was full of people, but she wasn't in reality anymore.

**((Time Skip))**

"Bloody Hell."

That was Bella Black's reaction when she saw her little cousin Sirius walk into his Sorting talking to a Bloody Potter. Well, after it had been censored (of course).

James Bloody Potter, to be correct.

But she hadn't known it at that moment.

He had the trademark untameable black hair, the wire glasses that perched on the straight smallish nose. Thin - check. Tallish - check. _Reeked _of light magic - check.

She shot furious looks at her cousin her eyes moving between him and her sisters at a ridiculous speed. Andy and Cissy both had their eyes fixed on Sirius both of their faces mirroring what Bella wanted to say: _Sirius, be a good boy, get away from the Gryffindor Blood Traitor - Now._ _There's a good boy._

"Applewhite, Leila!" was the first name McGonagall called out. A perilous three names later, Sirius's name was called.

"Black, Sirius!"

For his credit, he was every once the Black, walking up to the stool. Shoulders back, good posture, one foot in front of the other, good pace, unlike that Avery boy who ran off with the hat still on his head. Letting the Purebloods down.

Bella, of course had rolled her eyes.

But, (there always had to be a **but **with Sirius)

Just as Sirius turned around,

To face the hall which was so quiet you could've dropped a pin (everyone knew the name Black),

He smiled.

It was one of _those_ smiles, where his dimples in the corner of his mouth showed and his eyes sparkled with adventure and mischievousness and a hint of crazy.

And the brilliant smile that usually only she or Regulus could force out of him was aimed at James Bloody Potter.

She should've known, she told herself later.

_Should've, but didn't._

_Should've, but didn't _know that he would've sat on that stool for longer than Andy did (the Black record up to that time, was eighteen point three seconds) and took almost a minute.

_Should've, but didn't _know that he would be influenced _that _much by one train ride. If she had known that she would've forced him to sit with her and her friends. Well, minions. Same Difference.

_Just didn't know _that that bloody hat would shout out "**GRYFFINDOR**!"

He stepped off the Podium and calmly walked towards the table decked in Gold and Red.

Not the Green and Silver.

She had been mute for a moment, Bella Black rendered speechless was quite a feat.

She turned away and convinced herself she was seething, and ignored the tear that made it's way down her cheek where a drop of salty water hadn't been spilt for years.

Sirius, her Sirius, was in the Lion's Den - while she was in the Snake Pit.

**((Time Skip))**

It had been a term after the Sorting and Bella and Sirius had exchanged nothing other than quick looks in the corridors during the bustle of switching classes, when they thought the other wasn't looking.

But now, he had her in an empty corridor, her taking a shortcut and Sirius doing some snooping. Her plan was to ignore him, but he didn't seem to like that plan.

"Bella!"

She carried on.

"Bella!"

One foot in front of the other.

"Bella!"

Shoulder's back.

"Bella!"

Deep Breath.

"Bella!"

Flick of the hair.

"Bella!"

Carry on.

She didn't turn to see him stop looking helplessly at her retreating back, his anguished shouting finally coming to a standstill.

She didn't see the dimming light in his grey eyes.

But she heard him sigh, a sound that wrenched her heart a little, forgetting it was supposed to be made of unmovable solid rock.

_Blood is thicker than Water, _she reminded herself, and then another part of Bella said in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Sirius himself, _yeah right._

Carry on.

But it was funny how she didn't hear him approaching her, in the deserted corridor.

Funny, how she didn't fight his strong arms snaking around her waist, and his head relaxing on her shoulder.

Funny, how she sunk, molded, into him.

"I'll always be here Bella, and I'll always love you. No badge on my uniform is going to change that." Bella could've fainted in relief, realising how much she had missed him, but restrained herself. Slytherins did not faint and neither did Blacks - unless they wanted something, obviously.

"Love you Siri." she said, using his nickname from days past, and then pulled away, leaving a grinning Sirius in her wake.

**((Time Skip))**

"...Sirius..?" she asked in a quiet voice to the quiet Black library where they'd been meeting for the past five years. _Just tell him. Out in the open. I'm marrying Lestrange - the Death Eater._

"Hey Bells." his voice sounded different, she noticed. A little more dead. Less Alive. They were the same thing after all._ I'm marrying Lestrange - the Death Eater._

After the confrontation in the corridor five years before, they had a kind of peace treaty between them. They met in the Black library at the holidays and the Room of Requirement at the holidays and Sirius made sure she was never around when the Marauders played pranks on the Slytherins. _I'm marrying Lestrange - the Death Eater._

Bella still wished he was in Slytherin, and she could love him openly, but it was blatantly clear he loved being a Gryffindor, and the only Gryffindor Black at that. _I'm marrying Lestrange - the Death Eater._

Regulus had failed him in that respect, and the brothers were no longer speaking , but Bella, Cissy and 'Dromeda (as she now called herself, Andy was too babyish now) had heard him sniffling in the Slytherin Common Room late at night after him and Sirius had met and shouted in the Room of Requirement about Regulus's sorting, the shouting included "I thought you weren't a slimy snake? Well you're not my brother any longer!" and vice versa. _I'm marrying Lestrange - the Death Eater._

She was the only Black he still spoke to regularly but him and Andy swapped words when they saw each other and Bella had seen Cissy looking longingly at her younger cousin, always seeming just about to approach him and then turning away at the last moment, seeing the Lion roaring on his robes. _I'm marrying Lestrange - the Death Eater._

"Sirius? What's wrong?" she asked in a gentle voice. _If only the Slytherins could see me now. _Admittedly she had finished school the previous year, but it would feel odd not going back to Hogwarts on September 1st. _I'm marrying Lestrange - the Death Eater._

"Promise me you won't tell them, Bells."

_Out in the open. I'm marrying Rodulphus Lestrange - the Death Eater._

"Tell them what?"

_Just tell him. Out in the open. I'm marrying Lestrange - the Death Eater._

"Just promise me."

_Bellatrix Lestrange._

"I promise."

_Bellatrix Lestrange._

"I'm running away Bella. Going to James's."

_Lestra- WHAT?_

"WHAT!"

"Bella, I- I can't _breathe _here. I've got nowhere to go, nothing to become."

She stared at her cousin, his eyes had dark circles underneath them, and his skin seemed paler, he looked much, much too vunerable (much too young, but that wasn't a factor when you were a Black) to be in this world of death, pain and darkness.

_Nothing to become but a Death Eater, _were the unspoken words, that neither of them wanted to hear nor contemplate. Bella didn't like the idea of bowing down and kissing someone else's robes, but the scary thing was, she could see herself kissing the Dark Lord's. Sirius doing that was terrifying, scary and utterly ridiculous.

"I- I have some news of my own." _Lestrange. Bellatrix Lestrange._

"What is it?" he looked happier that she wasn't going against his plans. She didn't have the heart or the drive.

"I'm getting married."

His face showed a range of emotions: Shock, Sadness, Happiness and Suspicion.

"Who? I didn't know you had a boyfriend,"

"It was arranged." the taste in her mouth after just saying those words made her want to vomit. _Arranged Marriage. Lestrange. Death Eater. Too Young. Too Vunerable. Leaving. Don't Tell. Just Children. Dark. Black. Runaway. Black. Dark Lord. Bellatrix. Sirius. Cissy. 'Dromeda. Regulus. Ancient. Noble. Death. Pain. Suspicion. Love You. Miss You. Need You._

"Who." It wasn't a question, more of a demand. Sirius's eyebrows were knitted together, and he looked like he was living up to his name - he was being (for once) deadly serious.

"Rodulphus Lestrange." she whispered, cowering.

"WHAT?" As Sirius stormed out the room, shaking with uncontrollable rage, Bella Black, soon to be Bellatrix Lestrange, knew that she wouldn't be seeing him for a while.

**((Time Skip))**

She was right, and the next time she saw him was just a fleeting glance, the slightest of seconds.

She was being herded into Askaban, her Lord had been defeated by a _Potter baby _of all things, Sirius's friends _Potter _and the _Mudblood _Evans who Severus had a crush on.

She, of course, had proudly displayed her Dark Mark, spitting in the Minister's face that her Lord would return. And then, then he would be sorry.

She had no idea why she didn't want to become Bellatrix Lestrange, when she was Bella Black.

Being Bellatrix was so much _fun._

And Rodulphus introduced her to _him. _The Dark Lord was magnificent in every way, shape and form. His power made the air around him sing, and when she bent down to kiss his robes, she felt such longing she knew that being Bellatrix Lestrange was the best thing she'd ever done.

At that moment, the unwilling Ministry employee moved her into a series of corridors and she passed that cell.

Her head turned, and she saw some haunted grey eyes staring back at her.

His usually messy 'I've-just-been-shagged-and-liked-it' hair was in greasy tangles, hanging limp to his shoulders. His face was pale and sunken, thinner and his cheeks were gaunt in contrast to the rest of his face. And his expression was bone shaking, heart breaking.

A mixture of loss; pain; hate; anguish; madness; amusement (?); disbelief and complete and utter despair.

She gulped, her throat becoming dry and cracked, just like her heart.

Her stupid heart.

_Now, _she knew why she had wanted, no _needed, _to be Bella Black, and not Bellatrix Lestrange. She needed to look after Sirius, her little cousin Sirius with his innocent view of the world, and she had failed miserably.

Then she was roughly shoved into her own cell, and she heard the resolute clang of the prison door behind her.

She had no idea how much time had passed, but she knew it was a long time, judging by the line on her hands that were becoming to look suspiciously like wrinkles.

The sadness and lack of happiness was all there was in Askaban, the wizard's prison.

Something was whining.

It took great effort, but she looked up.

There was a... dog? Yes, a dog at her cell door. It was a big black one, with sad eyes. It looked very thin and it's fur was matted and long.

For some reason or other it reminded her of a Grim, the death omen they learnt in Divination.

Then,

Then it did the impossible.

It turned into Sirius.

Her Sirius.

The Sirius round the bend, a corridor away.

His eyes, were as sad as the dog's.

"Come with me." the words were a whisper, a real human word, not an unintelligible scream that she had gotten so used to.

But for some reason or another she shook her head. "My Lord will come. I do not need your assistance."

He looked shocked, that she wouldn't come. She was shocked herself. He opened his mouth to speak again but she cut him off before he could utter a sound.

"You _never_ spoke to again after I told you I was getting married. I was _forced!" _Her voice went up an octave on the last word. "Is it any wonder I joined the Dark Lord?"

"Bella, please-"

"No!"

"What happened to you Bella? What happened to Bella Black?" and with that final remark and a sad look, he transformed into the Grim, and padded softly out of the dismal place.

But that question would ring in her mind until the day she died .

_What happened to Bella Black?_

**-(.)-**

She'd meant it only to stun.

Only to stun.

Just to get him away from the battle, to turn him to the right side.

To keep her little cousin safe.

She could see it in her mind's eye, that moment, whispering _Stupefy _under her already ragged breath. _Stupefy, stay safe._

_Stay Safe._

His eyes had widened a fraction, he knew that his taunting had done him no good.

Those big silvery grey eyes, the shape of almonds, perfectly situated on his heart shaped face, half hidden by a mop of black, black, black hair. Sirius Black and Bella Black. Black, Black, Black, Ebony Black, Forever Black, as Black as her heart.

He had automatically stepped backwards.

The smallest of steps, really.

A shuffle of the feet, backwards like he was a robot and his controls had gone haywire.

Eyes widen.

Step back.

Fall back.

Gone.

The curtain fluttering uncertainly in the department of mysteries, _it_ dissolved him.

He wasn't _it's_ to take.

_It _hadn't loved him more than anything, anyone, itself.

She heard a scream of rage, loss and unstoppable sadness filling the suddenly empty room. In reality it was full of people, but she wasn't in reality anymore.

In some dim part of her mind, she could sense that it wasn't an audible scream at all. It was Bella. Screaming out her heart and soul, for her little cousin with the grey grey (not Black after all) eyes, her cousin, hers, _hers, __**hers, **_gone.

And it was all Bellatrix's fault.

Bellatrix was taunting the Potter boy, who looked so much like his father, who had met Sirius on the Hogwarts express, the one that corrupted her cousin. He was going to _Crucio___her, (Bellatrix) he was so upset, and she felt it with him.

The long ago question echoed in her ears:

_What happened to Bella Black?_

**-()-**

_She died the day you did, _was the sorrowful reply.

**-()-**

_Fin._


End file.
